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Serpent

The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind and represent dual expression of good and evil.
In some cultures snakes were fertility symbols, for example the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth and Snake Girl and to renew fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops.." In other cultures snakes symbolized the umbilical cord, joining all humans to Mother Earth. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars - sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete - and they were worshiped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

Serpent

sėr′pent, n. any member of the genus Ophidia, more popularly known as snakes—any reptile without feet which moves by means of its ribs and scales: a snake: a person treacherous or malicious: one of the constellations in the northern hemisphere: (mus.) a bass musical wind-instrument, entirely obsolete except in a few Continental churches, a tapered leather-covered wooden tube 8 feet long, twisted about like a serpent.—v.i. to wind along: to meander.—v.t. to girdle, as with the coils of a serpent.—ns.Serpentā′ria, the Virginia snakeroot; Serpentā′rius, the secretary-birds: the constellation Ophiuchus; Ser′pent-charm′er, one who charms or has power over serpents; Ser′pent-charm′ing, the art of charming or governing serpents; Ser′pent-cū′cumber, a long-fruited variety of the musk-melon; Ser′pent-dē′ity, the god of the Ophites, Abraxas; Ser′pent-eat′er, the secretary-bird: a wild goat in India and Cashmere; Ser′penteau, an iron circle with spikes to which squibs are attached, used in a breach.—n.pl.Serpent′es, the second order of the third class of limbless reptiles.—ns.Ser′pent-fish, the snake-fish; Ser′pent-grass, the alpine bistort.—adjs.Serpent′iform, ophidian in structure: snake-like; Ser′pentine, resembling a serpent: winding, tortuous: spiral: crooked.—n. a kind of firework: a 16th-cent. form of cannon: a mineral composed of silica and manganese, generally occurring massive, colour some shade of green, also red and brownish-yellow.—v.i. to wind or wriggle like a serpent.—adv.Ser′pentinely.—adjs.Serpentin′ic, Ser′pentinous.—adv.Serpentī′ningly, with a serpentine motion.—v.t.Ser′pentinise, to convert into serpentine.—v.i.Ser′pentise, to wind: meander.—adj.Ser′pent-like, like a serpent.—ns.Ser′pent-liz′ard, a lizard of the genus Seps; Ser′pent-moss, a greenhouse plant from the West Indies; Ser′pentry, serpentine motion: a place infested by serpents: serpents collectively; Ser′pent-star, a brittle star; Ser′pent-stone, snake-stone, adder-stone; Ser′pent's-tongue, the adder's-tongue fern; Ser′pent-tur′tle, an enaliosaur; Ser′pent-withe, a twining plant of tropical America; Ser′pent-wood, an East Indian shrub; Ser′pent-wor′ship, one of the most ancient and widespread forms of primitive religion, and still existing amongst many savage peoples; Sea′-ser′pent (see Sea).—Serpentine verse, a verse which begins and ends with the same word.—The old serpent, Satan. [L. serpens, -entis, pr.p. of serpĕ